| Ceratocystis platani | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Canker stain of plane | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Sordariomycetes |
| Order: | Microascales |
| Family: | Ceratocystidaceae |
| Genus: | Ceratocystis |
| Species: | C. platani |
| Binomial name | |
| Ceratocystis platani (J.M.Walter) Engelbr. & T.C.Harr. (2005) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Ceratocystis platani is a fungus that causes a disease on plane trees in the genus Platanus , mostly in North America and Southern Europe.
Ceratocystis platani is believed to be native to southeastern USA. [1] The fungus was previously considered to be part of the Ceratocystis fimbriata species complex as Ceratocystis fimbriata f. platani. [2] It was elevated to the level of species in 2005. [1]
Ceratocystis platani causes a disease in plane trees known as "Canker stain of plane" (UK English) or "Canker of sycamore" (US English). [2]
The disease is caused by the phytotoxin cerato-platanin, which occurs in the cell wall of C. platani, as well as other Dikarya, and is involved in molecular fungus-host interactions. [3]
Oriental plane ( Platanus orientalis ) is considered highly susceptible to the fungus; American sycamore ( Platanus occidentalis ) probably coevolved with the fungus and is relatively resistant, while the hybrid London plane ( Platanus × hispanica ) is generally intermediate in resistance between its parents. [4] The fungus is a wound parasite which rapidly infects plane trees, causing disruption of water movement, cankers and eventually death. [4] Cankers on the tree trunk are characterised by necrosis of inner bark and bluish-black to reddish-brown discolouration of sapwood. [4] The disease can cause sudden death of a portion of the crown, and trees of 30–40 cm diameter may die within 2–3 years of infection. [4]
The disease was first reported in the USA in 1935 affecting Platanus × hispanica . In subsequent years the disease was reported in most Atlantic seaboard states. It was subsequently observed in plantations and in natural forests of Platanus occidentalis . The disease has also been reported in California. [2] In Philadelphia the disease had killed 10,000 out of a total 150,000 trees by 1945. [2] In Gloucester, New Jersey, 87% of London planes had died by 1949. [2]
The disease was first found in Europe in Marseille, France, in 1945, and is believed to have been transported there by US troops during Operation Dragoon towards the end of World War II. The pathogen is now present in most of Italy. [2] It has also been reported in Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Iran, and Armenia. [2] In Italy and the south-east of France the disease has caused serious losses. [2] In Marseille, where the first phase of infection started in 1945, 1850 Plane trees were killed between 1960 and 1972 (about 13% of the initial population). [2] At Forte dei Marmi, one of the oldest infection centres in Italy, 90% of all plane trees died of the disease in the twenty-year period from 1972-1991. [2]
Ceratocystis platani was first detected in Greece in 2003. [2] Since then, hundreds of dead and dying trees have been found along streams and rivers in southwestern Greece, and many ornamental trees have died in residential and recreational areas. [4]
In 2006 C. platani was identified as the cause of plane tree death along the Canal du Midi, a UNESCO world heritage site in France. [4] The canal is lined with around 42,000 plane trees and up to 2011, around 2,500 trees had been felled, destroyed and replaced with disease-resistant planes. [4]
Platanus is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae.
Platanus × hispanica, the London plane or hybrid plane, is a tree in the genus Platanus. It is often known by the synonym Platanus × acerifolia, a later name. It is a hybrid of Platanus orientalis and Platanus occidentalis.
Platanus occidentalis, also known as American sycamore, American planetree, western plane, occidental plane, buttonwood, and water beech, is a species of Platanus native to the eastern and central United States, the mountains of northeastern Mexico, extreme southern Ontario, and extreme southern Quebec. It is usually called sycamore in North America, a name which can refer to other types of trees in other parts of the world; in the United Kingdom, for example, the name syacamore typically refers to Acer pseudoplatanus. The American sycamore is a long-lived species, typically surviving at least 200 years and likely as long as 500–600 years.
Platanus racemosa is a species of plane tree known by several common names, including California sycamore, western sycamore, California plane tree, and in North American Spanish aliso. Platanus racemosa is native to California and Baja California, where it grows in riparian areas, canyons, floodplains, at springs and seeps, and along streams and rivers in several types of habitats. It can be found as far north as Tehama and Humboldt counties.
Ophiognomonia clavigignenti-juglandacearum is a mitosporic fungus that causes the butternut canker, a lethal disease of butternut trees. It is also known to parasitize other members of the genus Juglans on occasion, and very rarely other related trees including hickories. The fungus is found throughout North America, occurring on up to 91% of butternut trees, and may be threatening the viability of butternut as a species.
Ceratocystis fimbriata is a fungus and a plant pathogen, attacking such diverse plants as the sweet potato and the tapping panels of the Para rubber tree. It is a diverse species that attacks a wide variety of annual and perennial plants. There are several host-specialized strains, some of which, such as Ceratocystis platani that attacks plane trees, are now described as distinct species.
Botryosphaeria stevensii is a fungal plant pathogen that causes cankers on several tree species including apple and juniper as well as causing cankers on grape vines. It causes branch dieback, possibly affecting a large portion of the tree canopy, and if severe it can kill entire plants.
Lasiodiplodia theobromae is a plant pathogen with a very wide host range. It causes rotting and dieback in most species it infects. It is a common post harvest fungus disease of citrus known as stem-end rot. It is a cause of bot canker of grapevine. It also infects Biancaea sappan, a species of flowering tree also known as Sappanwood.
Ceratocystis coerulescens is an ascomycete fungus and the causal agent of sapstreak disease in sugar maple trees. There is debate about whether it is one species or two; the second being Ceratocystis virescens. For simplicity, this page will refer to this pathogen as one species. It is also known by its anamorph name Endoconidiophora virescens.
Thousand cankers disease (TCD) is a recently recognized disease of certain walnuts. The disease results from the combined activity of the walnut twig beetle and a canker producing fungus, Geosmithia morbida. Until July 2010 the disease was only known to the western United States where over the past decade it has been involved in several large scale die-offs of walnut, particularly black walnut, Juglans nigra. However, in late July 2010 a well-established outbreak of the disease was found in the Knoxville, Tennessee, area. This new finding is the first locating it within the native range of its susceptible host, black walnut. In 2013, an outbreak was found in the Veneto region of Italy, where the disease has been found on both black walnut and English walnut.
Corythucha ciliata, the sycamore lace bug, is a species of lace bug in the family Tingidae that is associated with sycamore trees.
Fusarium circinatum is a fungal plant pathogen that causes the serious disease pitch canker on pine trees and Douglas firs. The most common hosts of the pathogen include slash pine, loblolly pine, Monterey pine, Mexican weeping pine, and Douglas fir. Like other Fusarium species in the phylum Ascomycota, it is the asexual reproductive state of the fungus and has a teleomorph, Gibberella circinata.
In molecular biology, the cerato-platanin family of proteins includes the phytotoxin cerato-platanin (CP) produced by the Ascomycete Ceratocystis platani. CP homologs are also found in both the Ascomycota and the Basidiomycota branches of Dikarya. This toxin causes the severe plant disease: canker stain. This protein occurs in the cell wall of the fungus and is involved in the host-pathogen interaction and induces both cell necrosis and phytoalexin synthesis which is one of the first plant defense-related events. CP, like other fungal surface proteins, is able to self-assemble in vitro. CP is a 120 amino acid protein, containing 40% hydrophobic residues. It is one of the rare examples of protein in which contains a Hopf link. The link is formed by covalent loops - the pieces of protein backbone closed by two disulphide bonds. The N-terminal region of CP is very similar to cerato-ulmin, a phytotoxic protein produced by the Ophiostoma species belonging to the hydrophobin family, which also self-assembles.
Bot canker of oak is a disease on stems, branches and twigs of oak trees in Europe and North America. The casual agent of Bot canker of oak is the fungus Botryosphaeria corticola. Bot canker of oak causes lesions and cankers on a wide range of oaks in Europe and most recently live oaks in North America. Some infections were formerly attributed to Botryosphaeria stevensii, but most likely represent infections by Botryosphaeria corticola. Botryosphaeria corticola is distinguishable from Botryosphaeria stevensii via ITS rDNA sequencing.
Geosmithia morbida is a species of anamorphic fungus in the Bionectriaceae family that, together with the activity of the walnut twig beetle, causes thousand cankers disease in species of walnut trees. It was described as new to science in 2010 from specimens collected in the southern United States. The fungus, transmitted by the walnut twig beetle, Pityophthorus juglandis, is known from the western USA from California to Colorado. The cankers resulting from infection restrict nutrient flow and typically kill the host tree within three to four years. Based on closeness of internal transcribed spacer DNA, the closest relative of G. morbida is G. fassatiae. The specific epithet morbida refers to the deadly pathogenic effect it has on its host.
Septoria musiva, correct taxonomic name: Sphaerulina musiva, is an ascomycete fungus responsible of a leaf spot and canker disease on poplar trees. It is native on the eastern cottonwood poplar Populus deltoides, causing only a leaf spot symptom. On susceptible hybrid poplars, S. musiva causes necrotic lesions on the leaves which lead to premature defoliation, and cankers on the stem and branches which can reduce growth, predispose the tree to colonisation by secondary organisms, and cause stem breakage.
Leucostoma canker is a fungal disease that can kill stone fruit. The disease is caused by the plant pathogens Leucostoma persoonii and Leucostoma cinctum (teleomorph) and Cytospora leucostoma and Cytospora cincta (anamorphs). The disease can have a variety of signs and symptoms depending on the part of the tree infected. One of the most lethal symptoms of the disease are the Leucostoma cankers. The severity of the Leucostoma cankers is dependent on the part of the plant infected. The fungus infects through injured, dying or dead tissues of the trees. Disease management can consist of cultural management practices such as pruning, late season fertilizers or chemical management through measures such as insect control. Leucostoma canker of stone fruit can cause significant economic losses due to reduced fruit production or disease management practices. It is one of the most important diseases of stone fruit tree all over the world.
Ceratocystis cacaofunesta is an ascomycete fungus that causes a wilt disease in cacao trees. It has led to significant economic losses in Latin America.
Hypoxylon canker of shade trees is a weak ascomycete fungus that negatively affects growth and can eventually lead to the death of weak or diseased host trees. There are many different species that affect different trees. For example, Hypoxylon atropunctatum, a common species, is found on oak trees, Hypoxylon tinctor affects sycamore trees, and Hypoxylon mammatum infests aspen trees.
Erysiphe platani, also known as sycamore powdery mildew, is a fungus native to North America that now infects sycamore tree species worldwide. Infections may spread rapidly in urban settings with large groups of young trees or in plant nurseries. This mildew thrives when there are high humidity conditions during the growing season.
Media related to Ceratocystis platani at Wikimedia Commons